The beautiful sound of xiao reminds people of a lonely moon. That's a moon highly hanging in the sky on a cold autumn night. It is the sound of nature. There are even some xiao {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (展览会) in China every year. I's a kind of Chinese traditional instrument, Nowadays, it has become one of the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (国际的) instruments.

    The earliest xiao was {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (生产) during the Han Dynasty, And {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (它的) name was then qiangdi, which was popular among the Qiang people in Sichuan and Gansu Provinces. Qiangdi was a(n) {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (当地的) instrument then, In the first century BC, it became popular in the Yellow River area. Later, it was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (广泛地) used in China and it developed into an instrument with six holes, which was extremely {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (相似的) to today's xiao.

    Its structure is quite simple. very much like the flute(长笛)，but it's longer. Its {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (材料) is usually bamboo. There is a mouth on the top and five sound holes on the front side and one hole at the back, Besides, there are other holes that are designed to adjust(调节) the tunes (曲调)，smooth the tones(音调)，and raise the volume(音量). Xiao sounds soft and peaceful. The performance {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (形式) are mainly the same as those of the flute. However, it is less {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (有生气的) than the flute. For that reason, it is only suitable to play slow and peaceful melodies, which expresses people's feelings and draws a beautiful picture of nature.